West Palm Beach

It was the day before my flight back to New York from West Palm Beach, Fla. Since I was flying on Southwest Airlines, which has no reserved seating, and since I was reluctant to take the word of the airline attesting that families with small children would have priority, I had to form a plan quickly. I wanted to be first in line on our flight back to New York.

For less than $15, you can buy a cell phone loaded with minutes. You can buy more as you go whenever those minutes run out. Best of all, you aren't locked into a long-term contract.

But in South Florida, New York, California, Georgia, Texas and elsewhere, traffickers have figured out they can make big profits by purchasing thousands of these low-cost phones and tweaking the software so that calls can be made on any cell network. The altered phones are then sold all over the world -- costing the phone companies tens of millions of dollars.